Value for Money

Victorian Government agencies will ensure value for money is achieved when providing or receiving sponsorship.

'Value for money' should not be interpreted as simply the highest price when seeking sponsorship, or the lowest price when providing sponsorship, but also involves consideration of other factors including:

strategic benefits and risks of the association

capacity to advance Government priorities/corporate goals and objectives

the best mix of funding sources (e.g. existing program budget, Community Support Fund grant, sponsorship, etc.)

direct and indirect costs of servicing the sponsorship

value of opportunities for networking or reaching new audiences

value of alternative uses of the sponsorship budget

Agencies are required to maintain a register all sponsorships (received or provided).

All sponsorships (received or provided) should be evaluated when concluded, and their outcomes documented.

Appropriate Acknowledgement

When providing sponsorship, Victorian Government agencies must ensure appropriate acknowledgement of the Government as sponsor.

Agencies providing sponsorship must ensure that the sponsored organisation provides public acknowledgement of Government support. The forms of acknowledgement should be negotiated in advance and documented in the written agreement.

The acknowledgment should:

be commensurate with the value of sponsorship provided, and comply with the Brand Victoria Guidelines and

clearly indicate Government support for, rather than ownership of the sponsored activity

Additional types of acknowledgement may take the form of naming rights, corporate signage rights and acknowledgement in speeches and media releases. Where appropriate, the relevant Minister should be given the opportunity to announce the Government's support.

Effective Management of Sponsorships

When providing sponsorship, Victorian Government agencies must ensure that all agreed benefits are delivered.

All sponsorship proposals should have clearly defined objectives, key performance indicators (KPIs) related to the objectives, and an evaluation strategy that measures achievement of KPIs. Substantial sponsorships additionally require a business case establishing the need for the sponsorship and analysing possible alternative ways of achieving the objectives.

All sponsorship agreements should be documented, and clearly articulate the terms and conditions of the arrangement, including the procedures for making payments, the reporting requirements of benefit recipients, and the consequences for non-delivery of benefits by the other party to the sponsorship arrangements.

Government agencies providing sponsorship must ensure that the sponsored organisation delivers all agreed benefits, including products, services, opportunities, branding or any other benefit.

Sponsorship arrangements, particularly those relating to naming rights, must have explicit end dates.

To maximise the efficiency of sponsorship processes, consideration should be given to the use of a financial management information system to track outgoing financial benefits.